Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.

That’s What Friends Are For

I know it’s been a while, but with all the anti-feminist crap going on in the world, I’ve been too livid to write anything. Today is really the first day that I’ve been able to really organize my thoughts without being spitting mad. I’m still angry, but I’m not sputtering quite as much.

This blog post isn’t really meant to be a political statement (seriously, if it were, you’d have stopped reading by now, I’m sure!). This entire blog is about finding the happiness in crappy day to day situations, and that’s what this post is all about.

In the last two weeks, I’ve been unfriended, I’ve unfriended others, and I have been publicly vociferous. This is such a polarizing issue, but what has been awesome is that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the friends who have come out as on our side. Considering the people that I’ve unfriended are generally not important to me, while the ones who surprise me ARE important to me, it makes me feel somewhat relieved about my friend choices.

I’ve also become friends with some really amazing people, both male and female. One thing that I’ve happily discovered is there ARE a few other liberal women in Texas, and they KNIT! While I usually hesitate to make generalizations, my limited personal experience is that the people I know who only crochet seem to be less intellectual than the people I know who knit. Perhaps that’s just a southern thing? I don’t know.

Last Sunday, our regular group was quite loud and angry while we knitted at a local Panera in a very Republican neighborhood. We were thrown dirty looks by little old white women, but as our militant quasi-leader said, “Life’s tough for everybody. Get over it.” She’s from the hippie generation, so she’s already fought this battle once before. That evening, I sent her a message on Ravelry asking if she’d be my roommate at next year’s fiber retreat and she said yes. I’m super excited to have a friend who not only knits, but has a doctorate and is a feminist.

For most of my life, I’ve felt really alone, especially in my adult life. While my husband and kids are fabulous and wonderful, and my daughter truly is one of my best friends, it’s not the same. It’s hard for a liberal woman in Texas to make friends, especially friends with similar interests. It’s been the main reason I’ve wanted to move to the northeast, where friendship comes easily. Suddenly, I find myself surrounded by like-minded women and it is glorious! It is definitely making my time in Texas more pleasant and way less depressing.

While Saudi America goes to shit and the Constitution dissolves before our very eyes and the Supreme Court ignores decades upon decades of precedent, logic, and reason, I’ve found the good. More importantly, I’ve found hope. I think that is what friends are meant to give us: hope. The feeling that we are not alone in this dark universe.

So screw Hobby Lobby. We are women, we are crafters, and we shop…but we don’t shop at Hobby Lobby. Even more than all that, we freakin’ VOTE. And there are more of us than I ever imagined.

Loved the post, and glad you can find sanity in a state most of us are scared to even visit.

I had to laugh at my own reading on the “fiber retreat.”. I take it this has something to do with fiber art and textiles? Here I was trying to figure out why people had a whole retreat just to eat fiber. 🙂

LOL! That was exactly what my husband thought! Yes, it’s three glorious days in the hill country (bump country? I’ve seen hills and these are not them), no one under 18 allowed, where we knit, crochet, weave, and spin.

It is pretty scary to live here, particularly if Thomas ever gets his way and states are allowed to adopt an official religion. I used to read my daughter’s science book every year so I could counter any inaccuracies and fill in any blanks. She had a very thorough knowledge of the life of an ovum by the time she was 10. I did spend a few years married to an evangelical Christian, but my current husband rescued me from that. Yeah, if you think finding friends is hard, try dating in the land of the douche.

Glad you escaped the worst and are managing to raise an educated daughter. I hope there are other sane kids around for socialization?

I do want to see Texas some day, especially San Antonio, but really don’t want my tourism dollars supporting some of the scariest policies around. I lived in NC for a while, but it seems like that was nothing next to Texas.

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